The Composite Housing Market Index from the National
Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo rose to 66 in August from 65 during
July. The index has been trending higher since its December 2018 low, but
remains below the expansion high of 74 reached in December of 2017. The NAHB
figures are seasonally adjusted. During the last ten years, there has been a 65%
correlation between the y/y change in the home builders index and the y/y change
in new plus existing home sales.

The index of present sales conditions rose to 73 this month
from 71 in July. It was 12 points above December's low. The index of expected
conditions in the next six months eased to 70 from 71 in July. The index
measuring traffic of prospective buyers strengthened to 50 in August from 48 in
July. It was the highest measure since October.

Regional readings mostly improved this month. The index for
the Midwest posted a strong increase to the highest level since October 2018.
The index for the Northeast and for the West edged higher. In the South, the
index held steady and has been trending sideways since March.

The NAHB has compiled the Housing Market Index since 1985. It
reflects survey questions asking builders to rate market conditions as
"good," "fair," "poor" or "very high" to
"very low." The figure is a diffusion index with numerical results
over 50 indicating a predominance of "good" readings. The weights
assigned to the individual index components are 0.5920 for single-family
detached sales, present time, 0.1358 for single-family detached sales, next
months and 0.2722 for traffic of prospective buyers. The results are included in
Haver's SURVEYS database.